Our review of what’s been making news in the Dutch papers starts with the headlines that Peter R. de Vries, a popular TV crime journalist, says he has solved the infamous ‘Holloway case’, in which a Dutch student, Joran van de Sloot, has long been suspected of murdering an American student, Natalee Holloway, on the island of Aruba.
Until now, there has been insufficient evidence to charge Van de Sloot. But now De Vries says he secretly taped Van der Sloot confessing to the crime and has turned these tapes over to the police.
The new European Commission plan to cut CO2 emissions in the EU by 20 percent will cost the Netherlands 2 billion euros annually.
A Dutch artist named Tinkerbell has been criticized by animal rights activists for using 100 hamsters in her art: she made hamsters run around inside colorful plastic balls for a project called ‘Save the Pets’. But animal activists say rodents cannot be used for art.
A court in Den Haag acquitted seven men accused of belonging to a Islamic terrorist group called the ‘Hofstad Group’, citing insufficient evidence. Elsewhere, the Dutch cabinet decided that it won’t ban the wearing of burkas in the Netherlands.
Dutch Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders says the Ministry of Culture must stop subsiding a website, marokko.nl, a popular site among Dutch-Moroccan youths. Wilders says the site allows hateful, insulting language; for example, when two Dutch soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the site posted messages saying this was ‘a good thing’ and ‘great two criminals are dead!’ The website’s owner defended his website, saying such messages were allowed “because we believe in free expression and the right to insult.”
To celebrate national Poetry Day last month, Poetry International sent 12 poets to Utrecht train station’s lost and found department to write poems about the random objects found there, such as a lost teddy bear, a boxing glove and even an artificial leg. The poems were then posted in the station’s main hall for travelers to read.
The mayor of Almere and a city councilor admitted using official cars for personal business, like taking their kids to school and going out to dinner. A municipal spokesman defended the pair however: “We don’t want councilors coming to work with smelly armpits because they had to get themselves from A to B?”
The Dutch Ministry of Justice is cracking down on Internet gambling and wants it to become illegal for banks and credit card companies to handle payments to Dutch citizens from foreign online gambling sites. Although Internet gambling is illegal in the Netherlands, it’s estimated that 400,000 Dutch people gamble online each year, collectively spending some 280 million euros annually.
Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende spent 60,000 euros on a new governmental logo. But critics say the new logo is nothing new. “The old one is blue with a white background, while the new one is white with a blue background. I wish I could earn such easy money,” a Socialist Party MP said.
Dutch men apparently are more concerned with their looks than Dutch women. According to a recent study Dutch men spend an average of 15 minutes per day looking at themselves in the mirror, compared to 12 minutes for Dutch women. In other European countries, women spend more time in front of mirrors than men.
The Dutch Minister of Health, Ab Klink, has banned ads for a Chinese-made electronic cigarette called ‘SuperSmoker’. This electronic cigarette doesn’t emit secondary smoke and thus can be smoked in public places. The manufactures say the SuperSmoker is ‘healthier’ than normal cigarettes.
A recent study at the University of Maastricht found that brains develop differently in boys and girls. Apparently, a boy’s brain develops more slowly than that of a girl.
And finally, is it a cat or a tiger? Dutch customs officials have temporarily prevented a Dutch couple from importing a cat weighing 15kg into the Netherlands. The couple bought the cat in the US for 27,000 euros. Officials can’t decide if the Ashera cat is a wild animal or a domestic pet. (DM)
Our review of what’s been making news in the Dutch papers starts with the headlines that Peter R. de Vries, a popular TV crime journalist, says he has solved the infamous ‘Holloway case’, in which a Dutch student, Joran van de Sloot, has long been suspected of murdering an American student, Natalee Holloway, on the island of Aruba. Until now, there has been insufficient evidence to charge Van de Sloot. But now De Vries says he secretly taped Van der Sloot confessing to the crime and has turned these tapes over to the police.
The new European Commission plan to cut CO2 emissions in the EU by 20 percent will cost the Netherlands 2 billion euros annually.
A Dutch artist named Tinkerbell has been criticized by animal rights activists for using 100 hamsters in her art: she made hamsters run around inside colorful plastic balls for a project called ‘Save the Pets’. But animal activists say rodents cannot be used for art.
A court in Den Haag acquitted seven men accused of belonging to a Islamic terrorist group called the ‘Hofstad Group’, citing insufficient evidence. Elsewhere, the Dutch cabinet decided that it won’t ban the wearing of burkas in the Netherlands.
Dutch Freedom Party MP Geert Wilders says the Ministry of Culture must stop subsiding a website, marokko.nl, a popular site among Dutch-Moroccan youths. Wilders says the site allows hateful, insulting language; for example, when two Dutch soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, the site posted messages saying this was ‘a good thing’ and ‘great two criminals are dead!’ The website’s owner defended his website, saying such messages were allowed “because we believe in free expression and the right to insult.”
To celebrate national Poetry Day last month, Poetry International sent 12 poets to Utrecht train station’s lost and found department to write poems about the random objects found there, such as a lost teddy bear, a boxing glove and even an artificial leg. The poems were then posted in the station’s main hall for travelers to read.
The mayor of Almere and a city councilor admitted using official cars for personal business, like taking their kids to school and going out to dinner. A municipal spokesman defended the pair however: “We don’t want councilors coming to work with smelly armpits because they had to get themselves from A to B?”
The Dutch Ministry of Justice is cracking down on Internet gambling and wants it to become illegal for banks and credit card companies to handle payments to Dutch citizens from foreign online gambling sites. Although Internet gambling is illegal in the Netherlands, it’s estimated that 400,000 Dutch people gamble online each year, collectively spending some 280 million euros annually.
Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende spent 60,000 euros on a new governmental logo. But critics say the new logo is nothing new. “The old one is blue with a white background, while the new one is white with a blue background. I wish I could earn such easy money,” a Socialist Party MP said.
Dutch men apparently are more concerned with their looks than Dutch women. According to a recent study Dutch men spend an average of 15 minutes per day looking at themselves in the mirror, compared to 12 minutes for Dutch women. In other European countries, women spend more time in front of mirrors than men.
The Dutch Minister of Health, Ab Klink, has banned ads for a Chinese-made electronic cigarette called ‘SuperSmoker’. This electronic cigarette doesn’t emit secondary smoke and thus can be smoked in public places. The manufactures say the SuperSmoker is ‘healthier’ than normal cigarettes.
A recent study at the University of Maastricht found that brains develop differently in boys and girls. Apparently, a boy’s brain develops more slowly than that of a girl.
And finally, is it a cat or a tiger? Dutch customs officials have temporarily prevented a Dutch couple from importing a cat weighing 15kg into the Netherlands. The couple bought the cat in the US for 27,000 euros. Officials can’t decide if the Ashera cat is a wild animal or a domestic pet. (DM)
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